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Personal digital short: Self-portrait April 30, 2007

Posted by joost in : LFA, cinematography, directing, editing, reflection, screenwriting , comments closed

Fifteen personal shorts, shot on digital video. Fifteen different stories that one way or the other tell you something about its maker. Here is mine.

Self-portrait, February 2007.

My Graduate Trailer April 30, 2007

Posted by joost in : LFA, editing , comments closed

You thought The Graduate had something to do with Mrs. Robinson? About an affair between a student and the mother of a classmate? Think again! Here is the real trailer for The Graduate, that I made as an editing exercise to get to know AVID. Enjoy!

Quicktime hi-res lo-res

Screening April 24, 2007

Posted by joost in : LFA , comments closed

The screening of the Graduate trailers and personal shorts went well last Friday. One of the course directors attended the screening and provided feedback. Fellow students also commented on each others work, mostly during the cigarette / coffee breaks :-) The shorts deal with a wide range of topics. The overall quality is OK, some mediocre to so-so, others quite good.

Unfortunately the editing stations are occupied this week because the dip10′s have got to finish editing their 5 minute films. This means I probably won’t be able to export and upload my trailer and film this week. Stay tuned for updates.

Editing The Graduate April 14, 2007

Posted by joost in : LFA, editing, film , comments closed

This entire week is devoted to learning practical editing skills. We started by watching “The Graduate“, the breakthrough movie for Dustin Hoffman from 1967. Besides the fact that it’s a classic, we had to watch it because we have to cut a trailer for this film. This exercise is a playful way of learning how to work on AVID‘s, the industry standard for editing films.

Cutting the trailer is fun, because there are no constraints, we’re allowed to create anything we want as long as it’s based on the source material of The Graduate. I immediately had to think about “Shining“, a very cool alternative trailer for Kubrick’s “The Shining“. My trailer for The Graduate is sort of similar, in the sense that I want it to look like a totally different movie. It is supposed to be finished by Friday the 20th, I’ll upload it when it’s done so you can judge for yourself.

Mastering the AVID is a different story, specifically when you have to “unlearn” shortcuts and a way of working picked up on using Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere. And learn new ones on one of those very colorful keyboards :-)

Filming my digital short April 3, 2007

Posted by joost in : LFA, cinematography, directing , comments closed

The first term has one assignment that is really free and creative. It’s called “the digital short project”. Basically, you come up with an idea, a screenplay, an image, a song or anything else that sparks your interest. It’s up to you to decide how much preparation you want or need. Some people just grab a digital videocamera and start shooting, others create storyboards, cast actors and shoot on multiple locations in several days. The only real constraint is the length (maximum edited length: 10 minutes) and the budget – you’re not supposed to spend any money really.

Before I left The Netherlands I had a conversation with a good friend. She suggested that it would be cool to do another selfportrait, like the one I did one year ago at CREA. As a human being I have evolved and (hopefully) as a filmmaker as well. A selfportrait, edition 2007, would be interesting because to a certain extent I find myself at the crossroads.
When this digital short project at the LFA came up, I immediately had to think of this conversation and I decided to combine the two.

Key question for developing this film: who am I, at this moment in time? I wrote down some keywords and tried to come up with an interesting visual way of telling that story. Next up: finding a suitable location to shoot my film. Tough, because I had a very specific location and setting in mind (a particular part of a children’s playground). I spent quite a few hours googling, asking around and inspecting promising locations. The day before I planned to shoot my short, I still had not found the right spot. Of course I had some options but I wasn’t satisfied with them. Luckily I found a great location last Friday! The funny thing is, it is somewhat different from what I initially had in mind, but this location is so much better. It gave me more options (angles, types of shots) and more importantly, I could add some extra depth to the theme(s) that I want to convey in my selfportrait.
I know this all sounds a bit cryptic, but I just don’t want to spoil the surprise and the first viewing pleasure! :-)

My roommate Simon and I shot my film Saturday afternoon, and I’m quite happy with how the shoot went. Tonight I reviewed the material and it looks promising.
The weeks after Easter we’ll be learning how to edit (properly ;-) ), using the footage that everyone shot for their own digital project. This means my short will be finished the end of April or the beginning of May. I’ll put it online when it’s done!

Here’s a small teaser (still image from the film) to satisfy your curiosity:

Teaser Personal Digital Short